HENRY PAUL BAND
DISCOGRAPHY by John Molet - May 2003

GREY GHOST - 1979
The re-release of Henry Paul Band's albums, by "Wounded Bird Records", is just a greta idea as they were certainly one of the great southern rock bands back then. They were somewhere between the hard southern rock from Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet and the more "traditional" sound from the Marshall Tucker Band and Stillwater, among others. But the Henry Paul band's music had something original fot the die-hard fans of this musical style. Started by Henry Paul right after he left The Outlwas, (for those who had forgotten or those who didn't know), this band incorpôrates typical southern rock "clichés" (guitar solos is a good example) which quickly conquered southern rock fans, with songs such as "One night stands", "So long" or the fabulous "Grey ghost". This album is certainly one of their greatest releases, at least, it's the one who gave them that storng entity and which leave them one of the highest positions in southern rock music industry. As many southern rock bands,a confirmation with a second album is in demand by the fans.

FEEL THE HEAT - 1980
With this second album, the Henry Paul Band certainly convinced the last ones to enjoy their music, the sounds got a bit harder, more rock than country, and the songwriting really evolved. The Henry Paul Band certainly found the good way to conquer every southern rock fan. Compared to their first album, there were some changes in the lineup, which certainly match with the musical evolution of the band. The fantastic lead and slide guitar player, David Fiester, brings these rock'n roll atmospheres to the band ("Whiskey talkin'", "Night city", "Turn it Up"). We were also a bit surprised with Monte Yoho joining the band (he just left The Outlwas). To the southern rock fans, this album, "Feel the heat", is certainly the best album they released and I can tell you they were a great rock band on stage (for the few ones who saw video tapes, you know what I'm talking about). For sure, a fan appreciation is a thing, the success is an other one.... One more time, the 80's were coming and it meant danger for many southern rock bands. So what will happen to Henry Paul Band ?

ANYTIME - 1981
Back then, HPB had a record deal xith Atlantic Records and Rhino, we were in the early 80's and as every record labels, things were changing, the only important thing was to capture a wider audience, and so the bands had to change their sound.So did Henry Paul Band, as many others ones did. Don't get me wrong, this album is not a bad one but the rock'n roll atmospheres were not there any more, replaced by a new sound, this rock FM sound. With this kind of music, Henry Paul is pretty good but it's not really what we were expecting. We were expecting something in the "Feel the heat"'s vein, but....Barry Rapp and Monte Yoho had left the band, was it the beginning of an end ? By the way, we'll recall the great guitar parts in the songs "Crazy eyes" and "766-2623 romance", at least it's worth the buying.

HENRY PAUL - 1982
There's something special with Henry Paul Band's albums, when you look at the cover art, you know which kind of music you're gonna get. It can be surprising but that's the way it is ! So in 1982, Henry Paul releases his brand new album, shorter hair, clean and good looking....so what ?
Well, we were pretty sad when we discovered this new album, the synthesozer was dominating so much the music. Despite this synthesizer and its poor sound, I don't think the songwriting was bad. I'm sure they would be greater with a better sound. How can you appreciate a great guitar solo by Bill Crain on "Cold war" with this so horrible synthesizer's sound ? It seems the Henry Paul Band's split was kind of scheduled and we'll have to wait a few years to hear something new by Henry Paul. With his new band, the Blackhawks, it seems Henry Paul doesn't play southern rock music anymore, he now plays some country FM type of music. We recently heard about a reunion of the original Outlaws, so keep your fingers crossed ........

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